Harlequin Intrigue May 2021--Box Set 2 of 2

by Carol Ericson

  “I...I don’t like people lying to me. To my son.” Her throat felt too tight, anxiety cutting off the oxygen.

  It’s just in your head. Breathe.

  “Lianna, I haven’t been active duty for over five years.”

  And he wasn’t her friend, or anyone but a guest in her inn. It wasn’t his fault Henry was getting attached. It wasn’t a lie... “If you want to stay longer, I’m going to have to run a background check on you.”

  He didn’t pause or hesitate. “Okay.”

  She wanted to cry, and she didn’t have the slightest clue as to why. Except she still wasn’t right. She still wasn’t herself. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” He didn’t step toward her. He didn’t do a thing but stand there. But his next words were so gentle it felt like he put a warm hand on her shoulder like her grandmother used to do when Lianna was unreasonably upset.

  “You should always trust your gut, and you should always be careful to protect your son. Run whatever checks you need to feel safe. You should feel safe.”

  It was all she wanted. For her and Henry. “My husband was killed. Murdered.” The words had fallen out. Words she hadn’t spoken since they’d moved to Echo. Oh, she knew some people knew. Especially those who had been friends of her grandparents, but she hadn’t had to say it.

  Why had she said it now?

  Reece blinked. “I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t sound shocked or dismayed. His sorry was...kind, but not particularly effusive. She appreciated that. She hadn’t wanted his gasp of horror or praise of her bravery. She only wanted him to understand.

  “My husband wasn’t who he said he was.” She swallowed and glanced back at the kitchen. Henry hadn’t followed her. He was likely sneaking chocolate chips in the kitchen.

  Thank God.

  “Henry likes you. He’s never had someone... Even when his father was alive, he didn’t spend much time with Henry. He’s desperate for... He likes you, and I...”

  “I like him, too.”

  “You’re just a guest. You...” She stepped forward. She couldn’t explain it to Henry. He was only seven. But maybe if she explained it to this man, he could understand. He could...do something. “He can’t get attached like that. I’m sorry. It isn’t healthy. You won’t stay forever.”

  “People generally don’t.”

  Sadness dripped from those words. A sadness she recognized, because she’d been lost in it herself once. Henry had saved her, though. She’d had to take care of him, protect him, love him, and in doing all of those things for her precious boy, she’d learned to do the same for herself.

  She wasn’t perfect. Clearly this little meltdown wasn’t at all mentally healthy. But Reece was just a person. With his own story. His own sadness and hang-ups. And he’d been here a few days and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. No questions about Todd. Nothing out of place. It wasn’t like Denver.

  She had to get a hold of herself. “I’m perfectly happy to let him hear your stories. A friendship is certainly acceptable, but you cannot come into our private quarters. I have to maintain that boundary.”

  The sadness didn’t lift. If anything, he looked sadder. But he nodded. “Whatever you want, Lianna. He’s your son.” He held up his camera. “If you’ll excuse me.”

  Then he left again, as if he hadn’t come inside for anything at all. Somehow, despite him being a stranger, Lianna felt guilty about his feelings. Feelings she didn’t understand.

  And are none of your business.

  But she stood, staring at the door much longer than a busy woman had any right to.

  * * *

  “YOU’VE GOT A fake background ready for Reece Conrad?” Reece demanded when Shay answered his phone call.

  Shay didn’t hesitate at his sudden phone call or the demand. “More or less.”

  “Make it airtight.”

  “Will do. She’s suspicious?”

  “Not exactly, but the kid... He likes me. God knows why. She’s more worried about that sort of thing. She told me her husband wasn’t who he said he was.”

  “So she knew he was shady.”

  Reece sighed. “Found out, anyway. Which isn’t surprising. He was murdered.”

  “All the reports on it say it was a burglary gone wrong. And use the fake name. I bet she knows the real one. Did you—”

  “I don’t have any other updates,” Reece bit out. “I just want to make sure the background is in place.”

  “It is, but we’ll flesh a few things out if we know she’s running a check. Got a preferred wife name that you’ll remember?”

  “No wife.”

  “I thought...”

  “She’s seen me with the kid—she already called it that I don’t have one of those. I haven’t been wearing a ring, and I haven’t mentioned a wife waiting for me. It doesn’t make sense. Especially if I’m going to stay longer.”

  There was a long silence. “She’s pretty,” Shay said at length.

  Reece didn’t speak. No answer was better than anything he could have responded with.

  Shay sighed. “All right. You’ll look good for a background check—Elsie will make sure of it. If your innkeeper found out her husband wasn’t who he said he was, she knows something.” Shay’s voice changed. Got hard and authoritative. “Get in her room, Montgomery. No more excuses.”

  “We got a time limit?” Reece returned, bristling at the order even knowing he shouldn’t. This was what he came for—not making Lianna feel safe or to be a friend to Henry, but to get information.

  “I’m giving you one. You give me something to go on by Monday night or I yank you and send Sabrina.”

  “Sabrina has all the subtlety of a horse.”

  “Your subtlety is costing us time and money. Maybe a heavier hand will do the trick.”

  Reece ran his free hand over his face. “Fine. Monday,” he muttered, and ended the call before Shay could say anything else.

  He looked through the woods. He couldn’t see the house this far in the trees, but he could see it in his mind’s eye. Easily. Not just from a tactical standpoint but from a...a...

  He liked the inn. Liked being here. Hell, he even liked taking pictures. Not so much the pictures themselves, but the long walks and the paying attention to something other than what he had to do.

  But he had things to do. And now he had a deadline.

  It was clear he was looking at this all wrong. Yeah, he felt guilty, but a conscience didn’t keep Lianna and Henry safe. He had to get to the bottom of those listening devices, even if it violated her trust to do it.

  He’d known her for only a few days. Guilt was misplaced. Where had this softness come from? Too much time between missions? Too little to go on for this assignment?

  Too much time alone?

  He shook away that thought and marched deeper into the woods. He couldn’t go back to the inn until he had a hold of himself. Until he had a plan. He had to know if she had listening devices in her quarters by the end of the day Monday.

  How would he do it? Lianna never seemed to leave the inn. The first step would be to find a time she did. She had to leave sometimes. He’d prefer it if Henry were gone, too. Anyway, Lianna wasn’t likely to leave Henry behind.

  He could probably convince Henry to let him into the personal quarters when Lianna was busy, but even thinking about using the kid that way made him feel ill. No, he couldn’t use Henry. It wasn’t right.

  He went over plans, potentials, dismissing almost all of them as he trudged around the woods. The sun sank lower and lower, until it was nearly pitch-black. He didn’t have a choice. He had to head back to the inn and figure...something out.

  It was quiet when he made it back to the yard, but all the lights glowed warmly. Welcoming. It made him feel like he could belong here.

  Which was the
stupidest thought he’d possibly ever had. Even when he’d been a kid who’d thought a foster home could be permanent, that someone besides his parents could love him. At least he’d been a dumb kid then.

  Now he was a grown adult.

  You have a mission, Montgomery. Stop dancing around it.

  The stars shone brilliantly above—he’d always had that, even as a kid. Starshine and endless space—and the hope there was something beyond the hell he’d lived in when he was still with his parents.

  Now he was independent, doing what he was meant to do and helping people. It was stupid to beat himself up over a little guilt. If Lianna was the good person she seemed to be, then he was protecting her. He was doing his job by going through her personal things.

  He closed his eyes and accepted a few things right here and now—so he could move on and deal with what had to be done.

  He liked this place. He liked Lianna and Henry. He wanted them to be okay.

  However, for them to be okay and safe, he had to accept that he didn’t belong here. He had to do his duty and get out.

  He opened his eyes, gave himself a nod as if it was the physical shake he needed and headed inside. It was nearing eight o’clock, which meant Henry was likely in his room.

  Reece had missed dinner, and though he didn’t find himself particularly hungry, he knew that fuel was necessary no matter how a man felt. He moved for the kitchen, aware that he’d likely find Lianna there doing the dishes.

  He wasn’t disappointed. She hummed some nameless tune to herself as she rinsed off a dish and put it in the dishwasher.

  She was beautiful. It was time to stop dancing around the truth. He liked her and was attracted to her, and that was what was holding him up. Now that he’d admitted it, if only to himself, he could move past it.

  He retraced his steps, went all the way back to the front door, then made sure he made noise as he closed the door and walked heavier than necessary through the common areas, dining room and to the kitchen.

  She looked over her shoulder as he came to a stop at the entrance to the kitchen. “There you are,” she offered.

  “Sorry I missed dinner. Stellar sunset.”

  She returned to loading the dishwasher. “You’re a guest, Reece. No need to apologize. There’s a plate of leftovers in the fridge. If you can wait about ten, I can serve you in the dining room. Or—”

  “I could grab it myself. I don’t want to get in your way. I was the one who missed the dining room hours.”

  “Well. I suppose that would be okay. Let me heat them up for you—” She made a move for the fridge, but he shook his head and made it there first.

  “No need.”

  She held her wet, soapy hands in front of her, looking wholly perplexed. “But it won’t be any good cold.”

  He smiled and took the plate from the fridge. “It’s a very rare occasion I get a home-cooked meal. Hot or cold, it’s still a treat.”

  She frowned at him, then let out a gusty sigh. “Well, if you’re going to do that, you might as well eat at the kitchen table and not dirty up my dining room.” She gestured to the small table he knew she and Henry often ate at, rather than joining guests in the dining room.

  She gave Henry a life separate from the inn. Clearly on purpose. He wondered if it was to protect Henry, or for some other reason. One more in line with why he was here.

  “You do an awful lot on your own,” he said casually, settling himself at the table. “Don’t most places have a cook and a maid and a handyman?”

  She waved that away and went back to the dishes. “I have an on-call handyman, a maid service that comes in once a month to do a deep clean. But I usually don’t have more than four or five guests. It isn’t all that different than keeping house. Except I actually make some money off it.”

  “Do you ever leave?”

  She huffed out a laugh. He wouldn’t say she seemed comfortable, but she’d put her genial innkeeper persona back in place. “Do parent-teacher conferences count? Sometimes I don’t have guests, and those are usually the days for personal shopping or haircuts and taking Henry to the park. But I love this place. I like being close to home. Free days and errands are more than enough for me.” She pushed a few buttons and then closed the dishwasher.

  “So, if I wasn’t here on Monday, and Henry was at school, you’d go into town and do errands?”

  “Oh, maybe. Depends.” She turned to face him. He watched her school her relief into something more casual. “Are you checking out?”

  She wanted him to go, and that should not...hurt. “No. Not permanently, anyway. The park I want to go to is a bit of a drive. I thought I’d stay over, then drive back Tuesday. It might give you a chance to do that background check.”

  “Don’t you have...? It’s none of my business, of course, and I’m not trying to push you out. You’ve got our most expensive room, so your staying is good for my bottom line.” She smiled. “Don’t you have a home to get back to?”

  “I like it here. It’s...” He had to think and speak like a photographer, not like a man who’d never had a home. He looked at the plate in front of him. Pot roast, mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. It was delicious regardless of temperature. It was a dream.

  He could hardly tell her he was having stupid home fantasies. “It’s inspiring. I travel for my work. Sometimes I find a place I like and stay awhile. If it’s resulting in photos, that’s all that really matters.”

  She nodded.

  “If you ever don’t want me here, you only have to say it.”

  “And have you leave me a bad review?”

  “I wouldn’t. I understand. You have to look out for yourself and your son. I’ve never...” He shook his head. This wasn’t the way to assuage his guilt over needing to rifle through her things. He should be keeping his distance and getting the job done.

  But she studied him, and there was something in her blue eyes that... It felt a bit like this place. Somewhere to be. Home.

  Which convinced him he’d lost his mind. His objectivity. Something. He needed to get back to what he knew. Completing assignments and missions.

  “You’ve never what?” she pressed.

  “You’re a good mother. You care about your son and want to protect him. I haven’t really seen that.” He shoved a bite of pot roast into his mouth and hoped to God it’d remind him to stop talking.

  Her eyebrows drew together. “Your parents...”

  He gave a shrug, trying to play it all off as casual. Unimportant. “Didn’t care much about me. Enough neglect that the state took me away. I bounced around in fosters till I aged out.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head, uncomfortable. But she was talking to him, studying him. Maybe she’d share some of her own past. Something about her dead husband. It was for the mission. A give-and-get.

  Not his own soul.

  “My parents couldn’t take care of me, either, but my grandparents took me. I... They were great. But it’s hard having parents who weren’t. It always made me want to be better. And then Todd...” She sucked in a breath and then made a sound he thought was supposed to be a laugh. “Well, I have to go get Henry away from the screens and ready for bed. I allow him thirty minutes of playtime before he has to go to sleep.”

  She started walking out of the kitchen, and he should let her. Let her get back to her normal life, knowing on Monday he’d find the answer he was looking for, and hopefully be able to wrap this up in just a few more days.

  But words came out anyway.

  “If he still wants that story, I’d be happy to tell it. Wherever you’re comfortable.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Lianna stopped midstride. Not only had Reece remembered, but he was also casually offering to tell her baby a story. Something she knew Henry desperately wanted.

  It was more care than th
e boy’s own father had ever shown him. Which was saying next to nothing, but it still made Lianna’s heart hurt. It made her...soft, when she had to stay strong for Henry.

  Reece might like it here, he might be inspired, but he would leave. And Henry would be heartbroken to lose a companion, wouldn’t he?

  Or is that just what you tell yourself to keep you both safe?

  She looked at Reece. He continued to eat, as if his offer was casual and any response she gave would be fine enough, but she saw something underneath that. Especially now that he’d mentioned his parents and foster homes. The military.

  The man had no home. No family. He was lonely, and didn’t she know that feeling? Intimately at that. This place had always been a balm to that loneliness, even when her grandparents weren’t here. Why should she be surprised it reached out to someone else? It was what she counted on—people to view her inn as a charming home away from home.

  Maybe he made her a little nervous, and caused those anxious thoughts to spiral, but the only way to deal with those reactions was to confront them. To deal.

  “I’m sure he’d like that.”

  Reece gave a nod.

  Lianna walked out of the kitchen but stopped just outside the door. Why would she get Henry ready for bed, then have him come back out to the common area? It made more sense to just have Reece come to Henry’s room. What harm could a ten-minute story do?

  Don’t do it. You don’t know him. The background check could come back and he could be a murderer. A rapist. He could be a con artist who wheedled his way into people’s rooms and lives and...

  She shook away the destructive thoughts. She wouldn’t let Todd take her trust away from her. She wouldn’t think the worst of everyone she came into contact with. Reece had been nothing but kind and good with Henry. He was just a lonely man.

  And if he’s some serial killer?

  No. Not everyone was Todd. Echo and the Bluebird were supposed to be real life. She didn’t want her real life to be full of silly suspicion and over-the-top fear.

  “Why don’t you come on back to his room?” Lianna heard herself say, or screech. She wouldn’t leave him alone with Henry. She had a gun and pepper spray. She had a camera system and locks and... She would not be paranoid. She was prepared.